Is medical billing and coding a good job or not?

Hi,


I live in Mich. I only have a few days to figure out what I want to be. Because I go though Michigan works (lost my job to Mexico.) So any advice on this would help.


Thanks,


Jenifer

Is medical billing and coding a good job or not?
Hi, I would advise you to stay away from medical coding. I did this for a year. First I had to complete the community college program, took me a year after that to finally get a job doing medical coding. There is a high demand for medical coders, but not for inexperienced coders.





I found coding very difficult and stressful. One really has to know so much about disease and surgeries, surgical techniques, etc. For example, having to read coronary bypass surgeries and count how many arteries were bypassed, were the autogenous saphenous veins used or mammary artery or thoracic artery used? Was extracorporeal circulation used (heart lung machine)? Was there prolonged mechanical ventilation after the procedure? Not to mention after training you are expected to meet daily production standards.





This is just a tiny piece of medical coding. They don't start beginners on these surgeries but I'm trying to show how involved this is. It's difficult to find a job where you only code one specialty, like only cardiology or only radiology. Most places expect you to do a little of evertyhing, inpatient and outpatient.





YOU know what your limitations and capabilities are, if you are passionate about learning a lot about surgeries and diseases, then go for it. I regret going through the whole medical coding program, studing hard and forcing myself to do it, even though I had serious doubts that I would ever be comfortable doing this, to eventually not do medical coding all together.
Reply:YES IT IS A VERY GOOD JOB
Reply:Yeah, I liked it. I only made $9 something an hour but there is money out there. If billing and coding is all you do (not all the extra stuff) you will really like it.





Plus you have to like the staff you work around-(that was part of my problem).
Reply:Any job is a good job if it matches your abilities!
Reply:I write medical billing software and I swear that some of my clients who have medical billing companies make more money than I do. Most bill a percentage of the amount their clients get paid so if you have even 6 clients for whom you are billing $250,000.00/year (and most doctors offices bill at least that much) and charge them 5% on their receivables that is $75,000.00 a year for you. Keep in mind that if you are doing the billing they expect you do do the whole nine yards: Make sure all required paperwork to support the claim is in order, bill the primary insurance payer properly through electronic transmissions, follow up on the claims with the payer, bill the secondary payer after the primary has paid their portion or bill the patient for the co-pay if they don't have secondary insurance. They also expect you to make sure you collect the money from the payers; this is, after all, what your billables are based on.





There are a great many variables that go into submitting claims. Since Medicare makes up a huge chunk of the number of claims submitted by hosptials, physicians, facilities and durable medical equipment providers, and since they are the most difficult payer to figure out how to bill properly, you should start at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services home page.